













*u SJ= 



22d Congress, r inc t 

1st Session. L l * s J 



IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

April 16, 1832. 



Read, and ordered to be printed, and: <$ 5,000 additional copies be furnished for the 



use of the Senate 



Mr. Clay, from the Committee on Manufactures, made, to the Senate, the 

following 

REPORT: 

. The Committee on Manufactures have been instructed by the Senate, to 
.inquire into the expediency of the reducing the price of public lands, and of 
ceding them to the several States within which they are situated, on rea- 
sonable terms. Far from desiring to assume the duty involved in this im- 
portant inquiry, it is known to the Senate that a majority of the committee 
was desirous that the subject should have been referred to some other com- 
mittee. But, as the Senate took a different view of the matter, the Com- 
mittee on Manufactures have felt bound to acquiesce in its decision; and 
having bestowed on the whole subject the best consideration in their power' 
.now beg leave to submit to the Senate the result of their inquiries and re^ 
flections. ■ 

T$i? P . bl V? Ia " ds be,on S in S t0 the General Government are situated, 1st, 
Within the limits of the United States, as defined by the treaty of peace 
which terminated the revolutionary war; and, 2dly, Within the boundaries 

the^nited D States^^ "' " '^ by France and S P ain > respectively, to 
1st. At the commencement of the revolutionary war, there were, in 
some of the States, large bodies of waste and unappropriated lands, princi- 
pally west of the Alleghany mountains, and in the southern or southwest- 
ern quarters of the Union, whilst in others, of more circumscribed or bet- 
ter defined limits, no such resource existed. During the progress of that 
war, the question was agitated what should be done with these lands in the 
event of its successful termination? That question was likely to lead to 
paralyzing divisions and jealousies. The States not containing any con- 
siderable quantity of waste lands, contended that, as the war was waged 
with united means, with equal sacrifices, and at the common expense, the 
waste lands ought to be considered as a common property, and not be ex- 
dusively appropriated to the benefit of the particular States within which 
they happened to be situated. These, however, resisted the claim, upon 
the ground that each State was entitled to the whole of the territory, 
whether waste or cultivated, included within its chartered limits. To check 
tne = progress of discontent, and arrest the serious consequences to which the 
agitation of this question might lead, Congress recommended to the States 
to make liberal cessions of the waste and unseated lands to the United 



[ 128 ] 2 

j tu» mtVi davof October. 1780, "Resolved, That the un- 
States; an , on J« »^7^X ' elinquished to the United States, 
appropr.ated ands that may be cede ^ tion ofC ss f ,he 

* e i„ U etCTwH^he recommendation of Congress, the -era! States 
eontamine waste and uncultivated lands, made cessions of them to the Un - 
ted Sates The declared object having been substantially the same in all 
ted States, ine j t d ert t0 the terms of some of 

Im^Thefirs: n lA "me Was that of New York, made on the 
?v?d 9 v of March, 1781, by its delegation in Congress, in pursuance of an 
act of The LegTsatureof'the State; and the terms of the deed of cession 
exoresl ^ prof de, that the ceded lands and territories were to be held 
«Tand for the only use and benefit of such of fte States as are, or shall 
become parties to the articles of confederation." That of Virginia was the 
J?l f&t,. hut bv far. the most important of all the cessions made by 
TTfftnl States both ^respects the .xtent and value of the country 
ceded ff T om^hendTd the right of that commonwealth to the ; vast ter- 
ritory northwest of the river Ohio, embracing, bu not confined to the 

territo^ s'o ededt LlHfcH and not reserved for or appropriated 

toanvTf the beforementioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the 

nVoeL and soldiers of the American army, shall be considered a common 

tnl for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have be- 

come or shall become members of the confederation or federal alliance 

Tfl?Jid States Virginia inclusive, according to their usual respective 

° f ttlnnl in the'eenefaTcharge and expenditurt.'and shall be faithfully 
proportions in he general c g J for ' no Qther use or 

wttsoeve^ d Sng by the cesLnf which other States, prompted by a 
™fnanTmous spirit of union and patriotism, successively, made, we come 
tefhe laH the series, that of the^te of Georgia in 1802. The articles 
of agreement and ces ion entered into between that State and the Un.ted 
States among various other conditions, contain the unequ.vocal declaration 
« ftat aTtheinds ceded by this agreement to the United States shall after 
sat fvinethe abovementioned payment of one million two hundred and 
fiC thousand dollars to the State of Georgia, and the grants recognized by 
fhe preceding conditions, be considered a* a common fund for the use 
andbelefdof the United States, Georgia included, and shall be faith, 
f^ly ^ipofed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose 

"rhuTC the clear and positive terms of these acts of cession was a 
-reaV public, national trust created and assumed by the General Govern- 
Sent It became solemnly bound to hold and administer the lands ceded as a 
common fund for the Le and benefit of all the States and for no other 
oT or purpose whatever. To waste or misapply this [fund, or to divert 
U from the P common benefit for which it was conveyed, would be a v ola- 
«™ rf the trust. The General Government has no more power, rightfully, 
to cede the lands thus acquired to one of the new States, without a fair emu- 
vdent, than it wild retrocede them to the State or States from which thej. 



out 

W. Ij. ShoemafcOT 
I S *06 






A« 



[128] 



were originally obtained. There would indeed be much more equity in the 
latter than in the former case. Nor is the moral responsibility of the Ge- -* 
neral Government at all weakened by the consideration that, if it were so J 
unmindful of its duty as to disregard the sacred character of the trust, there 
might be no competent power, peacefully applied, which could coerce itsv > 
faithful execution. 

2d. The other source whence the public lands of the United States have ir . e 
been acquired, are, 1st, the treaty of Louisiana, concluded in 1803; and, 2dly, air 
i the treaty of Florida signed in 1819. By the first, all the country west^ s 
of the Mississippi, and extending to the Pacific ocean, known as Louisiana, lte 
which had successively belonged to France, Spain, and France again, in- m 
eluding the island of New Orleans, and stretching east of the Mississippi to st 
the Perdido, was transferred to the United States, in consideration of the 1 ? 
sum of fifteen millions of dollars, which they stipulated to pay, and have"" 
since punctually paid, to France, besides other conditions deemed favorable 1 * 
and important to her interests. By the treaty of Florida, both the pro- c " 
vinces of East and West Florida, whether any portion of them was or was 1 ** 
not actually comprehended within the true limits of Louisiana, were e 
ceded to the United States in consideration, besides other things, of the^ 
payment of five millions of dollars which they agreed to pay, and have* 
since accordingly paid. 

The large pecuniary considerations thus paid to these two foreign powers, * 
were drawn from the Treasury of the people of the United States; and, con-> 
sequently, the countries for which they formed the equivalents, ought to be^ 
held and deemed for the common benefit of all the people of the United " 
States. To divert the lands from that general object; to misapply or sacrio 
fice them; to squander or improvidently cast them away; would be alike/ 
subversive of the interests of the people of the United States, and contrary 5 
to the plain dictates of the duty by which the General Government stands 1 
bound to the States and to the whole people. 

Prior to the treaties of Louisiana and Florida, Congress had adopted a 
system for surveying and selling the public lands, devised with much care 
and great deliberation, the advantages of which, having been fully tested 
by experience, it was subsequently applied to the countries acquired by v 
those treaties. According to that system, all public lands offered for sale, 
are previously accurately surveyed, by skilful surveyors, in ranges of town- ' 
ships of six miles square each, which townships are subdivided into thirty- 
six equal divisions or square miles, called sections, by lines crossing each 
other at right angles, and generally containing 640 acres. These sections 
are again divided into quarters, and, prior to the year 1820, no person could 
purchase a less quantity than a quarter. In that year, provision was made 
for the further division of the sections into eighths, thereby allowing a pur- 
chaser to buy only eighty acres, if he wished to purchase no more. During 
the present session of Congress, further to extend accommodation to the pur- 
chasers of the public lands, and especially to the poorer classes, the sections 
have been again divided into sixteenths, admitting a purchase of only forty- 
acres. ' e " 

This uniform system of surveying and dividing the public lands, applies 
to all the States and Territories within which they are situated. Its great 
advantages are manifest. It insures perfect security of title and certainty 
of boundary, and consequently avoids those perplexing land disputes, the 
worst of all species of litigation, the distressing eflects of which have been 



[ 128 ] * 4 

atally experienced in some of the western States. But these are not the 
mly advantages, great as they unquestionably are. The system lays the 
bundation of useful civil institutions, the benefit of which is not confined 
o the present generation, but will be transmitted to posterity. 

Under the operation of the system, thus briefly sketched, the progress of 
he settlement and population of the public domain of the United States has 
)een altogether unexampled. Views which the committee will hereafter 
jresent, conclusively demonstrate that, whilst the spirit of free emigration 
hould not be checked or counteracted, it stands in no need of any fresh 
timul us. 

Before proceeding to perform the specific duty assigned to the committee 
>y the Senate, they had thought it desirable to exhibit some general views 
f this great national resource. For that purpose, a call, through the Senate 
"or information, has been made upon the Executive branch of the Govern- 
nent. A report has not yet been made; but, as the committee are desirous 
)f avoiding any delay, not altogether indispensable, they have availed them- 
elves of a report from the Secretary of the Treasury to the House of Re- 
>resentatives, under date the 6th April, 1832, hereto annexed, marked A, 
nd of such other information as was accessible to them. 

From that report, it appears that the aggregate of all sums of money which 
lave been expended by the United States in the acquisition of the public 
ands, including interest on account of the purchases of Louisiana and Flori- 
la, up to the 30th day of September, 1831, and including also expenses in 
heir sale and management, is $4S,077,551 40; and that the amount of mo- 
ley received at tfce Treasury, for proceeds of the sales of the public lands 
o the 30th September, 1831, is $37,272,713 31. The Government, there- 
ore, has not been reimbursed by $10,§04,S3S ^. According to the same 
eport, it appears that the estimated amount of unsold lands, on which the 
breign and Indian titles have been extinguished, is 227,293,884 withia 
he limits of the new States and Territories; and that the Indian title re- 
nains on 113,577,869 acres within the same limits. That there have been 
ranted to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Alabama, for internal improvements, 
J, 187,665 acres; for colleges, academies and universities in the new States 
nd Territories, the quantity of 50S,009; for education, being the thirty- 
ixth part of the public lands appropriated for common schools, the amount 
if 7,952,538 acres; and for seats of Government in some of the new 
States and Territories, 21,5S9 acres. By a report of the Commissioner of 
he General Land Office, communicated to Congress with the annual mes- 
sage of the President of the United States in December, 1827, the total 
quantity of the public lands, beyond the boundaries of the new States and 
Territories, was estimated to be 750,000,000. The aggregate, therefore, of 
11 the unsold and unappropriated public lands of the United States, survey- 

d and unsurveyed, on which the Indian title remains or has been extinguish- 

d, lying within, and without the boundaries of the new States and Terri- 
tories, agreeably to the two reports now referred to, is 1,090,871,753 acres. 
There had been 138,988,224 acres surveyed, and the quantity only of 
19,239,412 acres sold up to the 1st January, 1826. When the information 
called for shall be received, the subsequent surveys and sales up to the pre- 
sent period will be ascertained. 

The committee are instructed by the Senate to inquire into the expedien- 
cy of reducing the price of the public lands, and also of ceding them to 
the several States in which they are situated on reasonable terms. The 



5 [ 128 ] 

committee will proceed to examine these two subjects of inquiry distinctly 
beginning first with that which relates to a reduction of prke 7 7 ' 

fir,V J CC °, r S t( J ,' he existin S mode of selli "g 'he public lands, thev are 
first offered at public auction for What they will bring in a free and fid, 
compe t.t.on among the purchasers; when the public Lies cea se the lands 

i ? n 1820 fro™ So q ef Per ^ re - The P rice was reduced to that sum 
eLbIis^lnTnf f h Per aCre ' at Wh ' Ch " had Previously stood from the fir™ 
estabhshment of the present system of selling the public lands A leading 
consideration with Congress in the reduction* of the price, was thaT o suf? 

on ma"f "^ ^ 6S ° r the r dkS Which bad been befottwed and wh ch 
Hn„nf,r ° Unt -J lt ,r S deemed expedient to abolish. A further reduc 

all the P u e birc m kn a rnn P w SSeSS n °, me3nS ° f determ '"i"g the exact value of 
thatthe P p r elc wortf, VIT^ T " * material > at 'he present time, 
known T r f u, , a ° h townsh 'P <"■ section should be accurately 

acra, or other equivalent croVs. g 7 S of Indian c <*&, per 

-S^J^KS^iSSSffi o^r es „ of the p t of « 

the market. On applyin* this rule th?,™ ,7 hen " ls o ffered » 

ble, that the OstabE pVic T ^ t ° h ?J iTmT " T *? ^ irresistl '- 
the year 1828, was 81^8,30 75? « 18S9 it 5T7T7? ^ " f '" 
«2,329,356 14; and, during the year 183 to OOOOOn A ^t^J 880 ' 
tary of the Treasury observes in hi« L^T,,l " SJ '°°°' 00( '- And the Secre- 
of this session, tha/u th receipts fan nS" 1 "? "cement 
year, it will be perceived, hay?, LwiTe eXtedtl^T* ,he P™<" 
have gone beyond all former e~l n t I r Tr tes > and indeed 
ing the large amount of scrnT ffii, / V j ' eV , ed that ' ^'withstand- 
sorted in payment tknTs P yef if ttt,.vl and St ° Ck ^ may Sti " be ab ' 
ted, the receipts from This sourc« of Jv„ 7 T pr ° J , ected be com P'e- 
thoseof the pLent year" And he e,"m.ta Z' "^ f"" ^^ be '° W 
rent year, from this source, at three m Ihn„? ^-T'P 18 dur '"S tbe eu r- 
to suppose' that the amount of ales wo M h d °" arS - lt k '"^edible 
if the price had been ™££^C^^™ U " *° lar S e a •«"», 
the annual receipts may be expect^dSuctu^ SSSSHg* 



[ 128 ] 6 

districts, are brought into market, and according to the activity or sluggish- 

1 The Government is Die proprietor oi much the largest quani y 

i. inewuvc TTnitPrl States What it has in market, bears a large 

mmmmmMSA 

WhiM y it'Trec?dedly the most" nTporLt ciass 7 in the community, mos 

8. A material reduction of price would exc te and stmiu F 

speculation, now dormant, '»* lf^ M * ^ ^nt ,T the hand, of 
f the public aomam from - ' ^^ of. Cover ^^ 
the speculator. At the exisnn pir , temptation to 

the public constantly offers in the ™ rket > th ^ e Dac e with the progress of 
speculation. The demand is regular, keeping pace w.tn p g 
eLgration, and is supplied on k»ow^nd^odep.teton* 1 ^ 

were much reduced, the strongest incentives *> ^ instead of 

lands would be presented *° ^f o ^Xv e r n 'ment upon uniform and esta- 
being able to purchase from his °J n ™ nm ^' h P hi her and more fluc- 
blished conditions, might ^compelled tog ve «u ; ig ^ ^^ ^ 
tuating prices to the speculator. A"'"^ 00 " Thrown into the 

the military bounty ands granted during he U te war ' became aQ 

market at prices below he Go— r , hey no y ^ _ 

object of speculation and have pr.nc ip V JaMen i nt 

tors, retarding the settlement o he d.s tiftct^ whW ^ ^ q( 

3. The greatest em«raUoo that is bel eveu in Th £ effects f , ma- 

the States, is from Ohio, Ke f^l'^2^ Ah e, 1st, To lessen the 
t2I .ial reduction in the price of the public lands, w*» . ^ .^^ . n 
value of real estate in those three _ States -<>• lhe Stales . And; 

the public domain, as a common "■J"'^ iurther emigra tion from 
3dly P To offer what would operate as a bounty te i u . g ^ be 

th K 0S 6 ^rS^t^it^Ty Suing the value of their lands, 
Eai g tern both'of thei/pep^ion and currency. 



7 [ 128 ] 

And, lastly, Congress has, within a few years, made large and liberal 
grants of the' public lands to several States. To Ohio, 922,937 acres; to In- 
diana, 384,728 acres; to Illinois, 480,000 acres; and to Alabama, 400,000 
acres; amounting, together, to 2,187,665 acres. Considerable portions of 
these lands yet remain unsold. The reduction of the price of the public 
lands, generally, would impair the value of those grants, as well as injuri- 
ously affect that of the lands which have been sold in virtue of them. 

On the other hand, it is inferred and contended, from the large amount 
of public land remaining unsold, after having been so long exposed to sale, 
that the price at which it is held is too high. But this apparent tardi- 
ness is satisfactorily explained by the immense quantity of public lands 
which have been put into the market by Government. It is well known 
that the new States have constantly and urgently pressed the extinc- 
tion of the Indian title upon lands within their respective limits; and, 
after its extinction, that they should be brought into market as rapidly 
as practicable. The liberal policy of the General Government, coin- 
ciding with the wishes of the new States, has prompted it to satisfy the 
the wants of emigrants from every part of the Union, by exhibiting vast 
districts of land for sale, in all the States and Territories, thus offering every 
variety of climate and situation to the free choice of settlers. From these 
causes, it has resulted that the power of emigration has been totally in- 
competent to absorb the immense bodies of waste lands offered in the mar- 
ket. For the capacity to purchase is, after all, limited by the emigration, 
and the progressive increase of population. If the quantity thrown into the 
market had been quadrupled, the probability is that there would not have 
been much more annually sold than actually has been. With such exten- 
sive fields for selection before them, purchasers, embarrassed as to the choice 
which they should make, are sometimes probably influenced by caprice or ac- 
cidental causes. Whilst the better lands remain, those of secondary value will 
not be purchased. A judicious farmer or planter would sooner give one dollar 
and a quarter per acre for first rate land, than receive as a donation land of 
inferior quality, if he were compelled to settle upon it. 

It is also contended that the price of the public land is a tax; and that, 
at a period when, in consequence of the payment of the public debt and the 
financial prosperity of the United States, the Government is enabled to dis- 
pense with revenue, that tax ought to be reduced, and the revenue arising 
from the sales be thereby diminished. In the first place, it is to be observed 
that if, as has been before stated, the reduction of the price of the public 
lands should stimulate speculation, the consequence would probably be, at 
least for some years, an augmentation of the revenue from that source. Should 
it have the effect of speculation supposed, it would probably also retard the 
settlement of the new States, by placing the lands engrossed by speculators, 
in anticipation of increased value, beyond the reach of emigrants. If it 
were true that the price demanded by Government operated as a tax, the 
question would still remain whether that price exceeded the fair value of 
the land which emigrants are in the habit of purchasing? and, if it did not, 
there would be no just ground for its reduction. And assuming it to be a 
tax, it might be proper to inquire who pays the tax? the new or the old 
States — the States that send out, or the States that receive the emigrants? 
In the next place, regarded as a tax, those who have heretofore made pur- 
chases at the higher rate, have already paid the tax, and are as much de- 
serving the equitable consideration of the Government as those who might 



[ 128 ] 8 

hereafter be disposed to purchase at the reduced rate. It is proper to add 
that, by the repeal and reduction contemplated of duties upon articles of 
foreign import, subsequent purchasers of the public lands, as far as they are 
consumers of those articles, will share in the general relief, and will conse- 
quently be enabled to apply more of their means to the purchase of land. 

But in no reasonable sense can the sale of the public lands be considered 
as the imposition of a tax. The Government, in their disposal, acts as a 
trustee for the whole people of the United States, and, in that character, holds 
and offers them in the market. Those who want them, buy them, because 
it is their inclination to buy them. There is no compulsion in the case. The 
purchase is perfectly voluntary, like that of any other article which is offered 
in the market. In making it, the purchaser looks exclusively to his own 
interest. The motive of augmenting the public revenue, or any other mo- 
tive than that of his own advantage, never enters into his consideration. 
The Government, therefore, stands to the purchaser in the relation merely 
of the vendor of a subject which the purchaser's own welfare prompts him 
to acquire; and, in this respect, does not vary from the relation which tex- 
ists between any private vendor of wastelands, and the purchaser from him. 
Nor does the use to which the Government may think proper to apply the 
proceeds of the sale of the public lands give the smallest strength to the idea 
that the purchase of them is tantamount to the payment of a tax. The Go- 
vernment may employ those proceeds as a part of its ordinary revenue, or 
it may apply them in any other manner, consistent with the constitution, 
which it deems proper. Revenue and taxation are not always relative 
terms. There may be revenue without taxation. There may be taxation 
without revenue. There may be sources of established revenue which not 
only do not imply, but which supersede, taxation. Is the consideration 
paid for land to a private individual to be deemed a tax, because that indi- 
vidual may happen to use it as a part of his income? 

2. Is the reduction of the price of the public lands necessary to accele- 
rate the settlement and population of the States within which they are situ- 
ated? Those States are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, and Louisiana. If their growth has been unreasonably slow and tar- 
dy, we may conclude that some fresh impulse, such as that under consider- 
ation, is needed. Prior to the treaty of Greenville, concluded in 1795, 
there were but few settlements within the limits of the present State of Ohio. 
Principally since that period, that is, within a term of about forty years, that 
State, from a wilderness, the haunt of savages and wild beasts, has risen into a 
powerful commonwealth, containing, at this time, a population of a million 
of souls, and holding the third or fourth rank among the largest States in 
the Union. During the greater part of that term, the minimum price of the 
public lands was two dollars per acre; and of the large quantity with 
which the settlement of that State commenced, there only remain to be sold 
5,586,834 acres. 

The aggregate population of the United States, exclusive of the Territo- 
ries, increased from the year 1820 to 1S30, from 9,579,S73 to 12,716,697. 
The rate of the increase, during the whole term of ten years, including a frac- 
tion, may be stated at thirty-three per cent. The principle of population 
is presumed to have full scope generally in all parts of the United States. 
Any State, therefore, which has exceeded or fallen short of that rate, may 
be fairly assumed to have gained or lost, by emigration, nearly to the extent 
of the excess or deficiency. From a table accompanying this report, 



9 [ 128 1 

(marked B.) the Senate will see presented various interesting views of the 
progress of population in the several States. In that table, it will be 
seen that each of eleven States exceeded, and each of thirteen fell short 
of an increase at the average rate of thirty-three per cent. The greatest 
increase, during the term, was in the State of Illinois, where it was one hun- 
dred and eighty-five per cent, or at the rate of 182 per cent, per annum ; 
and the least was in Delaware, where it was less than six per cent. The se- 
ven States embracing the public lands, had a population, in 1820, of 1,207,165, 
and, in 1830, 2,238,802, exhibiting an average increase of 85 per cent. The 
seventeen States containing no part of the public lands, had a population, 
in 1820, of 8,372,707, and, in 1830, of 10,477,895, presenting an average 
increase of only 25 per cent. The thirteen States, whose increase, accord- 
ing to the table, was below 33 per cent, contained, in 1820, a population, of 
5,939,759, and, in 1830, of 6,966,600, exhibiting an average increase of on- 
ly seventeen per cent. The increase of the seven new States upon a capital 
which, at the commencement of the term, was 1,207,165, has been greater 
than that of the thirteen, whose capital then was 5,939,759. In three of the 
eleven States, (Tennessee, Georgia, and Maine,) whose population exceed- 
ed the average increase of 33 per cent, there were public lands belonging to 
those States ; and in the fourth, (New York,) the excess is probably attribu- 
table to the rapid growth of the city of New York, to waste lands in the 
western part of that State, and to the great development of its vast resources 
by means of extensive internal improvements. 

These authentic views of the progress of population in the seven new 
States, demonstrate that it is most rapid and gratifying ; that it needs no 
such additional stimulus as a farther reduction in the price of the public lands; 
and that, by preserving and persevering in the established system for sell- 
ing them, the day is near at hand when those States, now respectable, may 
become great and powerful members of the confederacy. 

Complaints exist in the new States, that large, bodies of lands in their re* 
spective territories, being owned by the General Government, are exempt 
from taxation to meet the ordinary expenses of the Stale Governments, and 
other local charges ; that this exemption continues for five years after the 
sale of any particular tract; and that land, being theprincipal sourceof the reve- 
nue of those States, an undue share of the burthen of sustaining the expens- 
es of the State Governments falls upon the resident population. To all these 
complaints, it may be answered that, by voluntary compacts between the 
new States respectively, and the General Government, five per cent, of the 
nett proceeds of all the sales of the public lands, included within their limits, 
are appropriated for internal improvements, leading to or within those 
States; that a section of land in each township, or one-thirty-sixth part of 
the whole of the public lands embraced within their respective boundaries, 
has been reserved for purposes of education ; and that the policy of the 
General Government has been uniformly marked by great liberality to- 
wards the new States, in making various and some very extensive grants of 
the public lands, for local purposes. But, in accordance with the same spi- 
rit of liberality, the committee would recommend an appropriation to each 
of the seven States referred to, of a further sum of ten per cent, on the nett 
proceeds of the sales of that part of the public land which lies within it, for 
objects of internal improvement in their respective limits. The tendency 
of such an appropriation will be not only to benefit those States, but to en- 
hance the value of the public lands remaining to be sold. 
2 



[128] 10 

II. The committee have now to proceed to the other branch* of the in- 
quiry which they were required to make, that of the expediency of ceding 
the public lands to the several States in which they are situated, on reason- 
able terms.^ The inquiry comprehends, in its consequences, a cession of the 
whole public domain of the United States, whether lying within or beyond 
the limits of the present States and Territories. For, although in the 
terms of the inquiry, it is limited to the new States, cessions to them would 
certainly be followed by similar cessions to other new States, as they may, 
from time to time, be admitted into the Union. Three of the present Ter- 
ritories have nearly attained the requisite population entitling them to be 
received as members of the confederacy, and they shortly will be admitted. 
Congress could not consistently avoid ceding to them the public lands with- 
in their limits, after having made such cessions to the other States. The 
compact with the State of Ohio formed the model of compacts with all the 
other new States as they were successively admitted. 

Whether the question of a transfer of the public lands be considered in 
the limited, or more extensive view of it which has been stated, it is one of 
the highest importance, and demanding the most deliberate consideration. 
From the statements, founded on official reports, made in the preceding 
part of this report, it has been seen, that the quantity of unsold and unap- 
propriated lands lying within the limits of the new States and Territories, is 
840,871,753 acres, and the quantity beyond those limits is 750,000,000, 
presenting an aggregate of 1,090,871,753 acres. It is difficult to conceive 
a question of greater magnitude than that of relinquishing this immense 
amount of national property. Estimating its value according to the mini- 
mum price, it presents the enormous sum of 1,363,589,691 dollars. If it 
be said that a large portion of it will never command that price, it is to be 
observed, on the other hand, that, as fresh lands are brought into market 
and exposed to sale at public auction, many of them sell at prices exceeding 
one dollar and a quarter per acre. Supposing the public lands to be worth, 
on the average, one-half of the minimum price, they would still present the 
immense sum of 681,794,845 dollars. The least favorable view which can 
be taken of them, is that of considering them a capital yielding, at present, 
an income of three millions of dollars annually. Assuming the ordinary 
rate of six per cent, interest per annum, as the standard to ascertain the 
amount of that capital, it would be fifty millions of dollars. But this in- 
come has been progressively increasing. The average increase during the 
six last years has been at the rate of twenty-three per cent, per annum. 
Supposing it to continue in the same ratio, at the end of a little more than 
four years the income would be doubled, and make the capital 100,000,000 
of dollars. Whilst the population of the United States increases only three 
per cent, per annum, the increase of the demand for the public lands is at 
the rate of 23 per cent., furnishing another evidence that the progress of 
emigration, and the activity of sales, have not been checked by the price de- 
manded by Government. 

In whatever light, therefore, this great subject is viewed, the transfer of 
the public lands from the whole people of the United States for whose be- 
nefit they are now held, to the people inhabiting the new States, must be 
regarded as the mostmementous measure ever presented to the consideration 
of Congress. If such a measure could find any justification, it must arise 
out of some radical and incurable defect in the construction of the General 
Government properly to administer the public domain. But the existence 



11 [ 128 ] 

of any such defect is contradicted by the most successful experience. No 
branch of the public service has evinced more system, uniformity, and wis- 
dom, or given more general satisfaction, than that of the administration of 
the public lands. 

If the proposed cession to the new States were to be made at a fair price, 
such as the General Government could obtain from individual purchasers 
under the present system, there would be no motive for it, unless the new 
States are more competent to dispose of the public lands than the common 
Government. They are now sold under one uniform plan, regulated and 
controlled by a single legislative authority, and the practical operation is per- 
fectly understood. If they were transferred to the new States, the subsequent 
disposition would be according to laws emanating from various legislative 
sources. Competition would probably arise between the new States in the 
terms which they would offer to purchasers. Each State would be desirous 
of inviting the greatest number of emigrants, not only for the laudable pur- 
pose of populating rapidly its own territories, but with the view to the ac- 
quisition of funds to enable it to fulfil its engagements to the General Go- 
vernment. Collisions between the States would probably arise, and their 
injurious consequences may be imagined. A spirit of hazardous speculation 
would be engendered. Various schemes in the new States would be put 
afloat to sell or divide the public lands. Companies and combinations 
would be formed in this country, if not in foreign countries, presenting 
gigantic and tempting, but delusive projects; and the history of legislation, 
in some of the States of the Union, admonishes us that a too ready ear is 
sometimes given by a majority, in a legislative assembly, to such projects. 

A decisive objection to such a transfer for a fair equivalent, is, that it 
would establish a new and dangerous relation between the General Govern- 
ment and the new States. In abolishing the credit which had been allowed 
to purchasers of the public lands, prior to the year 1820, Congress was 
principally governed by the consideration of the inexpediency and hazard of 
accumulating a large amount of debt in the new States, all bordering on 
each other. Such an accumulation was deemed unwise and unsafe. It 
presented a new bond of interest, of sympathy, and of union, partially 
operating to the possible prejudice of the common bond of the whole Union. 
But that debt was a debt due from individuals, and it was attended with this 
encouraging security, that purchasers, as they successively completed the 
payments lor their lands, would naturally be disposed to aid the Govern- 
ment in enforcing payment from delinquents. The project, which the 
committee are now considering, is, to sell to the States, in their sovereign 
character, and, consequently, to render them public debtors to the General 
Government to an immense amount. This would inevitably create between 
the debtor States a common feeling, and a common interest, distinct from 
the rest of the Union. These States are all in the western and southwestern 
quarter of the Union, remotest from the centre of Federal power. The debt 
would be felt as a load from which they would constantly be desirous to 
relieve themselves; and it would operate as a strong temptation, weakening, 
if not dangerous, to the existing confederacy. The committee have the 
most animating hopes, and the greatest confidence in the strength and 
power and durability of our happy Union j and the attachment and warm 
affection of every member of the confederacy cannot be doubted: but we 
have authority, higher than human, for the instruction, that it is wise to 
avoid all temptation. 

In the State of Illinois, with a population, at the late census, of 157,445, 



[ 12S ] 12 

there are 31,395,969 acres of public land, including that part on which the 
Indian title remains to be extinguished. If we suppose it to be worth only 
half the minimum price, it would amount to $19,622,480. How would 
that State be able to pay such an enormous debt? How could it pay even 
the annual interest upon it? 

Supposing the debtor States to fail to comply with their engagements, in 
what mode could they be enforced by the General Government? In 
treaties between independent nations, the ultimate remedy is well known. 
The apprehension of an appeal to that remedy, seconding the sense of 
justice, and the regard for character which prevail among christian 
and civilized nations, constitutes, generally, adequate security for the per- 
formance of national compacts. But this last remedy would be totally in- 
admissible in case of delinquency on the part of the debtor States. The re- 
lations between the General Government and the members of the confede- 
racy, are happily those of peace, friendship, and fraternity, and exclude all 
idea of force and war. Could the judiciary coerce the debtor States? On 
what could their process operate? Could the property of innocent citizens, 
residing within the limits of those States, be justly seized by the General 
Government, and held responsible for debts contracted by the States them- 
selves in their sovereign character? If a mortgage upon the lands ceded, 
were retained, that mortgage would prevent or retard subsequent sales by 
the States; and, if individuals bought, subject to the encumbrance, a paren- 
tal Government could never resort to the painful measure of disturbing them 
in their possessions. 

Delinquency, on the part of the debtor States, would be inevitable, and 
there would be no effectual remedy'for the delinquency. They would come, 
again and again to Congress, soliciting time and indulgence : until, finding 
the weight of the debt intolerable, Congress, wearied by reiterated applica- 
tions for relief, would finally resolve to spunge the debt ; or, if Congress 
attempted to enforce its payment, another and a worse alternative would 
be embraced. 

If the proposed cession be made for a price merely nominal, it would be 
contrary to the express conditions of the original cessions from primitive 
States to Congress, and contrary to the obligations which the General Go- 
vernment stands under to the whole people of the United States, arising 
out of the fact that the acquisitions of Louisiana and Florida, and from 
Georgia, were obtained at a great expense, borne from the common trea- 
sure, and incurred for the common benefit. Such a gratuitous cession could 
not be made without a positive violation of a solemn trust, and without ma- 
nifest injustice to the old States. And its inequality among the new States 
would be as marked as its injustice to the old would be indefensible. Thus, 
Missouri, with a population of 140,455, would acquire 38,291,152 acres ; 
and the State of Ohio, with a population of 935, 8S4, would obtain only 
5,586,834 acres. Supposing a division of the land among the citizens of 
those two States respectively, the citizen of Ohio would obtain less than six 
acres for his share, and the citizen of Missouri upwards of two hundred and 
seventy-two acres as his proportion. 

Upon full and thorough consideration, the committee have come to the 
conclusion, that it is inexpedient either to reduce the price of the public 
lands, or to cede them to the new States. They believe, on the contrary, 
that sound policy coincides with the duly which has devolved on the General 
Government to the whole of the States, and the whole of the people of the 
Union, and enjoins the preservation of the existing system as having been 



13 E 128 ] 

tried and approved after long and triumphant experience. But, in conse- 
quence of the extraordinary financial prosperity which the United States 
enjoy, the question merits examination, whether, whilst the General Go- 
vernment steadily retains the control of this great national resource in its 
own hands, after the payment of the public debt, the proceedsof the sales of the 
public lands, no longer needed to meet the ordinary expenses of Government, 
may not be beneficially appropriated to some other objects for a limited time? 
Governments no more than individuals, should be seduced or intoxicated 
by prosperity, however flattering or great it may be. The country now 
happily enjoys it in a most unexampled degree. We have abundant reason 
to be grateful for the blessings of peace and plenty, and freedom from debt. 
But we must be forgetful of all history and experience, if we indulge the 
delusive hope that we shall always be exempt from calamity and reverses. 
Seasons of national adversity, of suffering, and of war, will assuredly 
come. A wise Government should expect, and provide for them. In- 
stead of wasting „or squandering its resources in a period of general pros- 
perity, it should husband and cherish them for those times of trial and dif- 
ficulty, which, in the dispensations of Providence, may be certainly antici- 
pated. Entertaining these views, and, as the proceeds of the sales of the 
public lands are not wanted for ordinary revenue, which will be abundantly 
si pplied from the imposts, the committee respectfully recommend that an 
a> propriation of them be made to some other purpose, for a limited time, 
subject to be resumed, in the contingency of war. Should such an event 
unfortunately occur, the fund may be withdrawn from its peaceful destina- 
tion, and applied in aid of other means, to the vigorous prosecution of the 
war, and, afterwards, to the payment of any debt which may be contracted 
in consequence of its existence. And, when .peace shall be again restored, 
and the debt of the new war shall have been extinguished, the fund may be 
again appropriated to some fit object other than that of the ordinary expen- 
ses of Government. Thus may this great resource be preserved, and render- 
ed subservient, in peace and in war, to the common benefit of all the States 
composing the Union. 

The inquiry remains, what ought to be the specific application of the fund 
under the restriction stated? After deducting the ten per cent, proposed to 
be set apart for the new States, a portion of the committee would have pre- 
ferred that the residue should be applied to the objects of internal improve- 
ment, and colonization of the free blacks, under the direction of the Gene- 
< ral Government. But a majority of the committee believes it better, as an 
alternative for the scheme of cession to the new States, and as being most 
likely to give general satisfaction, that the residue be divided among the 
twenty-four States, according to their federal representative population, to be 
applied to education, internal improvement, or colonization, or to the re- 
demption of any existing debt contracted for internal improvements, as each 
State, judging for itself, shall deem most conformable with its own interests 
and policy. Assuming the annual product of the sales of the public lands 
to be three millions of dollars, the table hereto annexed, marked C, shows 
what each State would be entitled to receive, according to the principle of 
, division, which has been stated. In order that the propriety of the propos- 
• ed appropriation should again, at a day not very far distant, be brought un- 
der the review of Congress, the committee would recommend that it be li- 
- mited to a period of five years, subject to the condition of war not breaking 
1 out in the mean time. By an appropriation so restricted as to time, each 
State will be enabled to estimate the probable extent of its proportion, and 



1 128 ] 14 

to adapt its measures of education, improvement, or colonization, or extinc- 
tion of existing debt, accordingly. 

In conformity with the views and principles which the committee have 
now submitted, they beg leave to report the accompanying bill, entitled, 
" An act to appropriate, for a limited time, the proceeds of the sales of the 
public lands of the United States." 



A. 

Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting reports as to 
the quantity of public lands unsold : the quantity granted for inter- 
nal improvements, education, and to charitable institutions ; the 
amount paid for title to public lands; the expenses incurred in the 
sale of the public lands, and in settling titles of claimants, and the 
amount received for lands sold. 

Treasury Department, April 6, 1832. 

Sir : In compliance with the two resolutions of the House of Representa- 
tives, passed on the 25th of January last, in the following terms : 

"Resolved, That, the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to furnish 
this House with a statement showing the quantity, in acres, of public land 
unsold at the time of the last quarterly return of sales, and within t\p 
limits of the several States and organized Territories, distinguishing th % 
part to which the Indian title had been extinguished ; also, the number of 
acres which have been appropriated for internal improvements, education, 
or charitable institutions, showing, under separate heads, the quantity of 
land unsold in each State and Territory, and to what States and Territories, 
or bodies politic, grants of land have been made, and the quantity to each. 

" Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury inform this House what 
amount} of money has been paid "by the United States for the title to the 
public lands, including the payments made under the Louisiana and Florida 
treaties ; the compact with Georgia ; the settlement with the Yazoo claim- 
ants ; the contracts with the several Indian tribes, and the expenditures 
for compensation to commissioners, clerks, surveyors, and other officers 
employed by the United States for the management and sale of the western 
domain ; also, the gross amount of money received at the public Treasury, 
as the proceeds of sales of public lands, and the sum still due from supposed 
solvent purchasers ;" I have the honor to transmit a statement from the 
Commissioner of the General Land Office, marked (a,) containing the infor- 
mation required by the first resolution, and a statement from the Register 
marked (b,) containing that required by the second resolution. 

In answer to the inquiry respecting "the sum still due from supposed 
solvent purchasers," I have to remark, that, agreeably to law, all lauds 
Which had been further credited under the relief laws passed in the years 
1821, 1822, and 1823, and which were not paid for on the 4th of July, 
1829, have reverted to the United States, and the moneys paid thereon 
are declared to be forfeited. There is, therefore, at the present time, no 
debt due from purchasers of public lands. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

LOUIS McLANE, 
Secretary of the Treasury* 
To the honorable the Speaker 

of the House of Representatives of the United States. 



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[ 128 ] 16 

STATEMENT of the amount of money which has been paid by the 
United States for the title to the public lands, including the pay* 
ments made under the Louisiana and Florida treaties; the compact 
with Georgia; the settlement with the Yazoo claimants; the con- 
tracts with the several Indian tribes; and the expenditures for com- 
pensation to commissioners, clerks, surveyors, and other officers em- 
ployed by the United States for the management and sale of the 
western domain; also the gross amount of money received at the 
public Treasury, as the proceeds of sales of public lands, staled in 
pursuance of the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 
25th of January, 1832. 

Payment on account of the purchase of Louisiana: 

Principal - - $14,984,872 28 

Interest on $1 1,250,000 - 8,529,353 43 

$23,514,225 71 

Payment on account of the purchase of Florida: 

Principal - - $4,985,599 82 

Interest to 30th Sept., 1831 - 1,265,416 67 

6,251,016 49 

Payment of compact with Georgia ... 1,065,48406 

Payment of the settlement with the Yazoo claimants - 1,830,808 04 

Payment of contracts with the several Indian tribes (all ex- 
penses on account of Indians) - 11,852,182 56 
Payment of commissioners, clerks, and other officers em- "H 91 ' 
ployed by the United States for the management and sale 
of the western domain ... - 3,563,83454 

$48,077,551 40 



Amount of money received at the Treasury, as the pro- 
ceeds of public lands, to the 30th September, 1831 $37,272,713 31 

Treasury Department, 

Register's Office, Feb. 7, 1832, 

T. L. SMITH, Register 



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